The College of Wooster Department of Art Student Independent Study

Our Children

This photo series is a documentation of incidents following the wake of 18-year-old Michael Brown’s shooting and killing August 9, 2014 in Ferguson, MO. It is broken down into a three part series. The first is Michael’s body, a study of Michael Browns memorial at the location of his shooting. The second is signs of protest, a compilation of sociopolitical messages through artistic expression and political activism. The third section depicts the remnants of businesses destroyed during the riots that ensued as an initial response to the shooting. As a whole the series calls attention to specific elements surrounding the case as a means to critique the wider American society and its perspective on Black men.

These works also stand to inform viewers on a subject of lynching and how it has become taboo. As a Black man in America there is a target on our back that stretches into historical roots of systematic racism, oppression, and hyper-criminalization. In the past, lynching acted as a scare tactic to suppress Blacks from enacting their rights as citizens. In time, the act of lynching transitioned into a form of mob violence driven mostly by false accusation to persecute Blacks. Darius Simmons, Oscar Grant, Sean Bell, Trayvon Martin, Johnathan Ferrell, Jordan Davis, Andy Cruz, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Emmitt Till, Mack Charles Parker, and countless others are not the first Black males to face unjust fates. Unfortunately, they will not be the last.

The title Our Children suggests that the killing of Black males in America is not as issue that should be limited to the concern of the Black community. It states that we are products of a society that guns us down and refuses to take responsibility, therefor shunning the children it is meant to protect.

Adam Brinson '15

Advisor: Bridget Milligan

Michael’s Body: Michael’s Body. Medium: Archival inkjet print. 17” x 22”. 2015.